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DIY Shabby Chic Tin Can + Lace Centerpiece

This centerpiece idea is filled with everything you need for a shabby chic vintage feel! Made from tin cans and dressed up with gold paint and lace, and filled with gorgeous baby’s breath flowers, they are an easy and are a stunning way to decorate your table at a wedding, baby shower, bridal shower, birthday party or any event.

I have posted several sneak peeks of the Southern Soiree baby shower I hosted for my sweet friend Andrea on my Instagram a few weeks ago, and I am so excited to finally put up the first DIY project tutorial from the shower today. It was such a fun event and it came together with all of the food and decorations better than I could have even hoped. Most of all though, we had a great time with friends celebrating this special mama-to-be!

You are going to L-O-V-E this project for so many reasons! I mean yes, it is stunning, but also, it is super easy to make and super inexpensive to make. I love projects like this because when you are decorating a large area or need something on a bigger scale it can sometimes be cost prohibitive to do something really grand. But this is gorgeous and you can make as many as you need to decorate as large of a space as you have for very cheap, to say it bluntly. My kind of craft!

First, make sure to remove all of the labels, rinse and dry the cans so there is no left over food particles in them. I used all different sizes of cans to give the display some depth and dimension. I used a combination of cans from vegetables and canned soup. I liked the large family sized Campbell’s canned soup for a larger soup can size. Also, many of the Campbell’s condensed soups are a little smaller than the veggie cans so they worked well for variety too!

Once all the cans are dry (very important!) go outside and spread out some newspaper and spray paint them gold. I used Krylon Maxx Gold spray paint and loved the finish. It was the perfect shade of gold and had just the right sheen.

To paint them you will get the best results if you turn them upside down (open side down) then do several very thin coats, turning the can in between so that you make sure to cover all of the sides evenly. If you get it thick enough to cover all in one coat it will often drip or gain other imperfections, so a few thin coats is really worth the extra bit of time.

Once the paint is very dry, bring them inside and start decorating them. I used a couple of different sizes and styles of gathered lace trim. I grabbed mine in the dollar bin at Joann Craft Store, but you can find similar ones on Amazon or any fabric store. I especially love this lace trim!

Just measure it around your can then trim it.

Use the Aleene’s Quick Grab Tacky Glue to draw a circle of glue where you want to adhere it. You can see I did it at the top of the can in the picture above, but I also did others 1/3 and 1/2 way down the can for variety. I prefer the Aleene’s glue for this project because hot glue not only has tons of strings, but also burns your fingers since the lace has holes, and if you don’t get it on straight it is a pain to rip off and reposition. The tacky glue gives you more room to play with it until it looks exactly like you want it and is thick enough to hold it on while it dries without you having to secure the lace in place with anything else. Let the cans dry overnight and you will be good to fill them up!

Change up the size of the lace or where you position it on the can to make it more interesting. I also left a few cans bare to stick in between the cans with lace so it wasn’t too much.

When you are ready to do your display, just fill the cans up with water and add flowers!

I used baby’s breath we got at our local Florist Jimmy’s Flowers. It was fresh and beautiful, not to mention that it is in inexpensive flower that goes a long way. I ended up using 9 cans total in my tablescape and used one bunch of baby’s breath to fill it up. I could have filled some jars a little more but two bunches would have been too much for 9 cans.

Seriously… How stunning is this when it is all set up?!

Make sure to stay tuned for the free Mason Jar invitation and other shabby chic vintage decor tutorials coming from the rest of the Southern Soiree baby shower and the final reveal of the entire thing. If you make these, I would love to hear about it in the comments, or even better see it by tagging me in a pic on Instagram @thepinningmama!